Disappointment ... and relief

Like probably a great many of you, I'm on the outside looking into my fantasy football playoffs.

I was put out of my misery after the 1 o'clock games on Sunday, when my opponent's three RBs (A.D., Ryan Grant and Jamaal Charles) racked up an amazing 95.1 points. My guys rallied in the later games, so at least I finished with a respectable 131.1 points (my third-best week of the year), but it wasn't enough against James's 152.1.

Because this regular season has been my worst ever (6-7), I was happy just to make the final 8 (out of 12). It's been such an up-and-down season that I found myself at times hating fantasy football -- which happens even when I'm having a good season. The physical nature of football leads to so many injuries, which in turn leads to players sitting out or playing sparingly and backups taking on unsurprisingly prominent roles. That nullifies the logic and reasonable guesses into lineup decisions, and leads to a lot of frustration over three months.

So that's a part of me that will enjoy being simply a Patriots fan and not obsessing over checking my iPhone for updates on Sunday. If you're still in the playoffs, all you pretty much need is lineup advice; there's probably not much in the way of player pickups that you need. There's a part of me that wants to keep tabs on some guys and trends for next year, but that's what fantasy magazines are for.